Aaron Portzline's NHL power rankings

Tuesday

Mar 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2010 at 12:08 AM

The only guarantee each week is that Edmonton is stuck in the basement. But life at the top is never easy, and some of the best clubs in the NHL have hit rocky roads late in the season. Here are this week's NHL power rankings, courtesy of Dispatch reporter Aaron Portzline, with last week's ranking in ( ).

The only guarantee each week is that Edmonton is stuck in the basement. But life at the top is never easy, and some of the best clubs in the NHL have hit rocky roads late in the season. Here are this week's NHL power rankings, courtesy of Dispatch reporter Aaron Portzline, with last week's ranking in ( ):

1. Washington (1): The Caps are feeling better about their goaltender. Jose Theodore won his past seven starts before Sunday's loss to Calgary.

2. Phoenix (2): From bankruptcy court to home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Is there a more surprising story in the sports world this year?

3. San Jose (7): After a mystifying six-game losing streak, the Sharks have restored order with four straight wins.

4. Chicago (3): A 3-5-2 late-season speed bump has the Windy City on alert. Safe bet: Goalie Cristobal Huet has pretty much played his way out of town.

5. Detroit (8): A 12-2-1 run since Feb. 11 has pushed the Red Wings into the playoffs. Who wants them in the first round? Anybody? Anybody?

6. Nashville (5): A 7-1-1 stretch ended with a highly dramatic shootout loss to the rival Red Wings on Saturday.

7. Pittsburgh (6): A year ago, the trade deadline moves all clicked. This season, the Pens are hacking and gagging down the stretch. Anybody seen Malkin?

8. Vancouver (4): The Canucks will spend the final two weeks of the season getting goaltender Roberto Luongo in gear. He's lost four of his past five decisions.

9. Buffalo (12): The Sabres have won four of their past five, including the rarest of all victories -- one with Patrick Lalime in the net.

10. New Jersey (11): After a slow start in Jersey, Ilya Kovalchuk has 8-12-20 and a plus-6 rating in 20 games with the Devils. Wonder if he'll re-sign there?

11. Los Angeles (13): A 4-6-2 slump has cost them a shot at the Pacific Division title. Now, suddenly, the concern is just making the playoffs.

12. Ottawa (22): Between goaltender Brian Elliott and an exceptional penalty kill, the Senators have allowed only four goals during a four-game winning streak.

13. Colorado (10): The Avs have lost five of their past six, and goalie Craig Anderson has gone cold. Friday's game vs. Calgary looms large.

14. Calgary (14): A win in Washington spared an otherwise brutal East Coast road trip. The Flames are still alive if they beat the Avs on Friday.

15. Boston (20): Three wins in their past four have the Bruins clinging to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference -- but with a game in hand on everybody.

16. Philadelphia (17): A recent five-game losing streak and the way the Flyers lost begs the question: Do these guys really want to make the playoffs?

18. Atlanta (16): Good for the Thrashers for staying in the race. But the bottom 10 in the Eastern Conference are so weak, it's not really that impressive.

19. St. Louis (15): Patrick Berglund overslept and woke up too late for practice last week. Sort of a metaphor for the Blues' season, eh? They woke up too late.

20. Dallas (21): Kari Lehtonen has made five of the past seven starts in goal over Marty Turco. He's 4-1, while Turco is 0-1-1. Should be an interesting summer.

21. Minnesota (19): Have dropped four of their past six -- including lopsided losses to Detroit and San Jose -- to bow out of the playoff picture peacefully.

22. Anaheim (18): Scott Niedermayer was a plus player in 12 of his first 13 seasons. He's been minus the past three, including a career-worst minus-15 this season.

23. N.Y. Rangers (25): Wait a minute. Wasn't coach John Tortorella supposed to turn this into a high-energy, hard-checking bunch? Not seeing it.

24. Columbus (24): The Blue Jackets might go into the off-season with the same question as the Cleveland Browns -- do you believe or dismiss a strong finish?

25. N.Y. Islanders (27): A certain former GM in Columbus was adamant that Dwayne Roloson could never play in the NHL. But at 40 years old, Rollie the goalie has a winning record for the lowly Islanders.

26. Carolina (23): The Hurricanes leading goal-scorer is ... not Ray Whitney. Not Eric Staal. Not Sergei Samsonov. But Jussi "Shootout" Jokinen.

27. Tampa Bay (29): The Lightning are loaded at forward, and a more than serviceable blue line. The goal this summer should be to find a fix at goaltender.

28. Florida (26): The Panthers will miss the playoffs for a ninth straight season. Even worse, they've won one playoff game since 1996.

29. Toronto (28): Six of their past seven wins have been decided in overtime (four) or shootout (two). Are they getting close or getting lucky?

30. Edmonton (30): Lots of bad contracts on the books, but none worse than Shawn Horcoff, who's making $5.5 million and has 12 goals with a minus-28.

aportzline@dispatch.com

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